Delmas's Mistake
by diepolitiker
Summary: A mistake by Prinicipal Delmas leads to some interesting consequences and a new member of the CL gang! YxOC, YxU. Rated M for femslash and cutting. This is my first story on fanfiction, so concrit: okay. Flames: not okay.
1. The New Arrival

Delmas's Mistake

"I'm very sorry to impose on your family like this, Mrs. Ishiyama, but there's been a mistak with her paperwork, and the bottom line is, that Kadic simply doesn't have a dorm room for its newest student, Sara Nyugen, and we were wondering of she could stay at Yumi's until we can get her a dorm."

Two days later….

The tiny, pixieish Korean girl with eyes like velvety chocolate and a fringe of raven hair half covering her small face looks up at the knock on the door of the guest room. "Can I come in?" Yumi asks. She enters without getting an answer. "I'm really sorry about this whole arrangement," Yumi continues to the girl's back. "I can't believe Principal Delmas would screw up like this…no, actually, I can! He's such an idiot sometimes, do you need any help unpacking?"

Sarah smiles slightly, the expression looking odd on her face, like it's not something she's used to doing. "The principal at my last school was like that too. Hopefully this will all be cleared up soon! No thanks, I'm fine." Something falls out of a fold in one of her long-sleeved shirts and clatters to the floor as she puts them into the dresser.

Yumi picks up the small knife and hands it back to her. "You dropped this." What can be seen of Sarah's face underneath the hair blushes slightly. "Why would you have a knife hidden in your luggage anyway?" Yumi prods.

"Oh, that. That's just my Swiss army knife. I had to put it in my checked luggage because customs wouldnt've let me put it in my carry on luggage. Plus, they don't like the idea of having any weapons on board a plane, so I had to hide it. Oh my god, having this tiny little knife on me would make me a terrorist!" she laughs with seemingly forced casualness.

Just then, Yumi's cell phone rings. "Hello?"

"Meet me at the factory as soon as you can. X.A.N.A.'s activated a tower in the ice sector." It's Jeremie.

This was the tenth time this week X.A.N.A had attacked, and it was only Friday. Sometimes Yumi wished she could just leave everything behind…."Be right there," she said, snapping her phone shut. After making some excuse to Sarah, she runs to the factory, but even the urgency of the attack can't make her forget the dropped knife, and the flash of fear in the new girl's eyes, even if it only lasted for a second.

A/N: Yes, I know it's short, and a little boring, but it gets better! this story is dedicated to two Sarahs: to Sarah C. for having the courage to speak out, and to Sarah B. You're in my thoughts, hon. I hope you're okay now. I modeled this OC after you. :)


	2. Chemistry and Secrets

"Jeremie said to go straight down to the scanner room," Odd pants as he joins Yumi in the elevator. "Ulrich should be here any minute. X.A.N.A doesn't look like too big of a threat this time, but he'll be here for backup just in case." The old cables creak as they step out and into the scanners.

"Scanner…Odd. Scanner…Yumi. Transfer…Odd. Transfer…Yumi. Virtualization."

"Is this a joke, Jeremie, sending us here for no reason? 'Cause I don't see anything, except Aelita, genius!" Odd says sarcastically. Glancing around, he sees nothing ahead but a narrow ice canyon to one side and a vast expanse of open ice to the other. Just then, their vehicles appear. "Well, I'm always up for a little flying even if this _is_ a joke!" he laughs

Jeremie's slightly annoyed voice cuts through Odd's fun. "Stop messing around. When you get through the canyon, you'll see an ice formation on the edge of the sector. The tower's on top of it. And hurry up!"

"Race ya!" Odd yells, zooming off through the narrow space.

"Hey! That's not fair, you got a head start!" Aelita argues, hopping on the back of Yumi's vehicle.

"Looks like the welcoming committee is all ready for us," Yumi comments. A Mekatank stands at the base of the ice mountain, and four wasps buzz angrily around the tower.

"No problem! I'll just get out some bug spray!" Odd jokes, a playful smile on his face. "I'll deal with these guys. Yumi, you take the tank. Aelita, hide."

Yumi moves quickly and purposefully in front of Aelita, who's backed up against the ice. "Bring it on! You look like one of Kiwi's chew toys, and you won't be anything more than that 

when I'm finished with you!" She unsheaths a fan, throwing it at the monster; but it closes itself, and the weapon merely bounces off its shell.

Meanwhile, above them, Odd taunts the wasps, trying to lure them away from the tower. "Come and get me! That's right! Oh look, I'm getting away- don't want that, do we, boys? Laser Arrow…ow! So you want to play rough, huh?"

"Odd, be careful!" Jeremie orders. "You just lost 20 life points!"

"Don't worry, Einstein! I know what I'm doing!" he laughs, racing away with them hot on his tail.

Below, Yumi eyes the Mekatank somewhat nervously….

Back at the factory, Ulrich and Jeremie are arguing. "Do. Not. Send. Yumi. To. Lyoko. Without. Me." Ulrich says slowly and angrily, as though Jeremie's an idiot. "Do you have any idea what could happen if I'm not there to protect her?"

"Aaaaahhh!" Yumi screams as the Mekatank's force slowly pushes her off the edge of the sector.

"Yumi…no…" Aelita breathes, moving towards the tank.

"Just go deactivate the tower!"

Ulrich steps into the scanner.

Yumi loses her precarious footing on the edge.

"Scanner…Ulrich"

She manages to grab onto it with one hand, stopping her fall into the digital sea.

"Transfer…Ulrich."

The Mekatank rolls ever closer…

"Virtualization!"

"Yumi, NOOOO!!" Ulrich screams, running towards her, sword out, vehicle forgotten. He jumps on the monster about to deliver the fatal blast to her, stabbing its center. In one fluid motion, he jumps off the Mekatank's back as it explodes and grabs Yumi by the wrist, pulling her back onto land.

"Thanks Ulrich…" Yumi says sheepishly.

"What would you ever do without me?" he teases.

"Okay, Romeo and Juliet, break it up. Aelita's just deactivated the tower. Time to come home."

"Do we need to do a return to the past, Jeremie? I didn't see any real-world damage" Aelita states.

"Actually, there wasn't; good thing you happened to be back on Lyoko for a bit when it happened. So no." Jeremie explains.

_How am I going to explain to my parents and that new girl why I left so suddenly? And I was gone for a while…_Yumi wonders.

Ulrich seems to see the worry on Yumi's face. "I'll take you home, all right? I'll tell your parents I needed some really urgent…homework help. Yeah. That's it. Come on."

As Yumi strides ahead of Ulrich through the sun-dappled woods, he has to jog to keep up. "Yumi. Wait," he insists. "One more minute won't make a difference. Just stop for a sec." Ulrich puts his arms around her, leans in, and kisses her, softly, tenderly. "Now don't ever get into that kind of trouble on Lyoko again," he says in a mock scolding tone. "You really scared me. You know I couldn't live without you!"

"Neither could I," Yumi says softly. But lately, Ulrich's affection, which usually so thrilled her, seemed to be…lacking. Something seemed to be missing, or to not fit, but she couldn't figure out what it was

"I'm sorry, Mr. Ishiyama. I asked Yumi for some help with homework, with this big…uh…chemistry assignment due tomorrow. It's my fault she was gone." Ulrich lies.

"It's nice of you to help your friends, Yumi, but next time, let us know when you need to leave." Mr. Ishiyama says sternly.

Yumi sighs and heads off to her room. A short while later, Sarah sticks her head in. "Wow…you're a real disappearing act sometimes!" she jokes. She lowers her voice to a whisper. "I bet Ulrich gave you a booty call, didn't he?"

"Nah, he just…needed some help with homework."

Sarah rolls her eyes. "Yeah right. But don't worry. I won't tell!"

"Maybe you're not telling a lot," Yumi cryptically responds, firmly holding the raven-haired girl's gaze. Even though it's a warm September day, Sarah's wearing long sleeves.


	3. Revealed

9/5/2008

Today's my first day at Kadic. I've never gone to boarding school before; my parents said they were sending me so I could get a better education, but I know the real reason. As they've moved up the social ladder, gotten wealthier, they've become so obsessed with their "image" that they won't let me "ruin" it or "shame" them. That's right. They sent me away because my problems were making them look bad. But that's not what I mean to write about, I've wasted enough ink on that already. Something really weird happened yesterday! I was just sitting here at the Ishiyamas, right here on this bed, and something like black smoke came out of the electrical outlet. But it didn't smell or feel like smoke; it felt like something cold, something evil. It wrapped itself around my head, and I think I passed out for a second. When I woke up, the thing was gone, and it looked as if nothing at all had happened. I wonder if I fell asleep and dreamed that…at least I hope I did, because I've got enough issues without some weird parasite invading my brain. I think Yumi's suspiscious of my habit, too. The way she looked at me when I lied about the knife…and what she said about me not telling a lot…I can't stop, though. It's practically all I think about. I just can't resist. When something goes wrong, it's the only way…I'm just what my parents say I am. Hopeless.

-Sarah

"Nice to know X.A.N.A's still around this year," Ulrich says, voice dripping with sarcasm as he sits down with Odd, Jeremie, and Aelita in the cafeteria.

"It's very strange that there were no attacks during our vacation. Maybe X.A.N.A's plotting something." Jeremie yawns and rubs his eyes.

"Nah, I think X.A.N.A needed a vacation as much as we did. Been up all night working on the program again, Einstein?" Odd asks.

"Yeah, maybe I'll get some sleep before class here…" The rest of his sentence is lost in another gigantic yawn.

"In that case, can I have your croissant?" Odd questions. Jeremie's only response is a soft snore. "I guess that means yes." Just as Odd's stuffing his face, Yumi walks up with the new girl.

"Um…hi Yumi," Odd mumbles, spraying both girls with crumbs.

"You know, you sound really dignified with your mouth full," Yumi says disdainfully.

"Sorry!" he chokes out as he swallows practically the whole thing in one gulp. "Hey…who's she?"

Yumi pulls out two chairs for them. "This is Sarah. She's new at Kadic this year. She's staying with me for now because Principal Delmas made a mistake with the paperwork, so she doesn't have a dorm room right now," Yumi turns her attention back to her. "And, unfortunately, you have classes with this idiot that just spit croissant bits all over you!" she says with mock sadness.

"I'm Odd," Odd says. "Odd Della Robbia. And Yumi, I am not an idiot! I can be quite gentlemanly if the situation calls for it."

"Yes, except the situation never does call for it, does it?" Yumi replies. A smile begins to play around the corners of Sarah's face.

"Okay, Sarah. So that's Ulrich, that's Aelita, and Sleeping Beauty over here is Jeremie." Just then, the bell rings. "Do we wake him up or let him sleep through all his classes?" Odd wonders aloud. "Come on, I'll give you a quick tour before we have to go suffer through Mrs. Meyer droning on about polynomials. But we'll have to hurry; I wouldn't want you to miss something that fascinating!" He pulls impatiently on her arm in his typical impatient, hyperactive matter. She winces.

By science class, the last class of the day, the soundtrack in Sarah's head is playing full blast. _See how far behind you are? And you really thought a new school would solve your problems! How naïve! You have no one here! Everyone here's just going to see you for the idiot that you are! Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid loser! _Finally, the dismissal bell rings; sweet relief. Now she can finally use the knife carefully kept in her pocket. With the bell comes a wave of anxiety so huge and sudden she thinks she's having a heart attack. Her only thought is to get away to somewhere private, somewhere she can be alone in order to calm herself the only way she knows how.

Before any of the gang can say anything, she's run off full tilt into the forest. Not paying any attention to the ground, she trips over the manhole in the grass. _Perfect. I'll just crawl in here and disappear._ Knife between her teeth, she carefully descends the slippery ladder to the damp, moldy-smelling tunnel. The anxiety in her mind, however, isn't satisfied with this hiding place. It commands her to run further. Not really knowing where she is, she ends up huddled on the concrete floor by Jeremie's base of operations for the supercomputer, knife in her shaking hand…

"Hey, where's Sarah? She was with you in class today, right?" Yumi asks.

"She was.." Aelita answers hesitantly, "but she ran off as soon as the bell rang. I don't know where she went…that girl is _fast._"

"There's no time to worry about her now. X.A.N.A's just activated a tower in the forest sector. I need you all at the factory ASAP before it can do anything on Earth," Jeremie orders.

In the chaos there, no one even notices the small form curled up and bleeding in a corner near the computer…

Later, panting, exhausted, a devirtualized Yumi steps out of the elevator and finally sees her. "Oh. My. God. Um, Jeremie, we have a problem…"


	4. Unintended Consequences

"Aelita, deactivate the tower as fast as you can so I can bring you all home. We have a…uh…situation at the factory." Jeremie barks.

"What sort of situation? Okay, I'm on it!" Aelita yells, blasting a final block out of her way to the tower.

Yumi kneels next to Sarah, breathing an audible sigh of relief when she finds her pulse. Bating strong, like her heart's about to leap out of her chest. And there's still a faint whisper of breath against her hand. "She's still alive. You could run a return trip and fix this." She sounds outwardly calm, voice not betraying her fear. With a profound sense of intruding on something very private, Yumi unpeels Sarah's fingers one by one from their tight grip around the Swiss Army knife, and starts pawing through her backpack, looking for something to stop the bleeding.

"Tower deactivated," the computer announces. Less than a minute later, Ulrich asks, "Okay, so what's the rush? You've never brought us home this fast before…my head's still spinning…oh." He notices the sconce playing out on the floor; Sarah, unconscious and bleeding badly, and Yumi tossing stuff out of her backpack.

"Aelita quickly pulls Ulrich's jacket off him. "Here, Yumi. Use this." She and Yumi fashion a makeshift tourniquet for Sarah's bleeding wrist out of it."Hey, guys, look. Her journal," Odd remarks, picking up the notebook hastily flung aside.

"Don't, Odd. Leave it alone. It's none of our business," Aelita says firmly.

"It _is_ our business, actually. If we know why she does this, then we can stop her by doing something differently after we do a return to the past." Jeremie explains.

Odd flips to her most recent entry. He gasps in surprise. "No, Jeremie. I don't think a return to the past can fix this." Odd hands him the journal.

Concern, his usual scientific face when met with another of X.A.N.A.'s technological advances, curiosity, and perhaps even a flash of well-concealed fear all mingle on Jeremie's face as he reads the entry. He's silent for a few long minutes. "Guys, what's going on?" Yumi finally breaks the silence, not taking her eyes off Sarah's limp body.

"According to this entry, Xana see,s to have gotten into Sarah's brain during the attack before this one. I'll need to run a scan on her to figure out how much she's affected and if she's dangerous. But if I do, she'll be immune to the returns to the past. And if I do that, but she doesn't know about X.A.N.A or Lyoko or any of this, the constant sense of déjà vu will drive her insane-"

"You mean, more insane than she already is, Einstein?" Odd interrupts, trying to joke. However, the whole gang immediately shoots him a barrage of dirty looks. "Sorry." Odd lowers his head in shame.

"You should be," Yumi snaps at him.

"Ahem, guys?! Now's not the time to argue." Jeremie's voice is tight and tense, like a rubber band stretched too thin. "Anyway, now it's too late to do a return trip to keep X.A.N.A from invading her. So the only way to figure out exactly what X.A.N.A. did and keep her sane-"

"Relatively so," Odd interjects.

"-is to make her a Lyoko warrior," Jeremie finishes


	5. Induction

Jeremie looks out at his friends' shocked faces. "Are you sure?" Aelita asks softly. "I mean, if X.A.N.A.'s really infected her brain, the last thing we want to do is send her to Lyoko!"

A stinging pain in her wrist forces Sarah awake. _Did I really pass out? How bad is it?_ She doesn't open her eyes or move, because now she's aware of voices, and pressure on the cut. _Shitshitshit! That was so idiotic! And now I've been found out! How could I be so utterly dumb?_ As she becomes more aware, she realizes the voices belong to Yumi and the others she met this morning. They seem to be arguing about something, and she keeps hearing "xana," "lyoko" and something about "her brain being infected" and needing a "scan." The pieces slowly begin to fall into place. _They're talking about me! It's __**my**__ brain that's "infected," whatever that means, by "xana," whoever or whatever that is!_ "But are you sure it's really X.A.N.A?" she hears Yumi question.

"Yes, I'm sure," Jeremie says. "Listen to what she wrote! "And something like black smoke came out of the electrical outlet. But it didn't smell or feel like smoke; it felt like something cold, something evil…"

But before Jeremie can finish making his point, Sarah's bolted upright. "What are you doing with my journal?!" she shouts at all of them. But even the simple act of sitting up quickly makes her so dizzy she nearly collapses back onto the floor; Yumi catches her.

"Hey, take it easy! You've lost a lot of blood!" Yumi warns. Her voice then softens. "Why would you want to do this anyway?" There's no anger, blame, or malice in her tone- just sadness.

Sarah looks down at the dirty floor, avoiding everyone's eyes. "I...I…don't really know…" she stammers. Because she's not looking at anyone, no one notices that her soft brown eyes are shining with tears.

Jeremie discreetly signals the others. "Return to the past now," he orders. Then, he hits ENTER. The white bubble expands. And…

"Sarah, are you okay?" Jeremie whispers as Mrs. Hertz covers the board with intricate drawings of chemical compounds. "You seem really tense."

"Nah, I'm fine," she lies.

"I have something to show you right after school, okay? Actually, we all do…me, Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, and Yumi. Come with us, all right?" Jeremie coaxes.

She only shrugs her bony shoulders.

Later, as the bell rings, Sarah tries to slip away in the mass exodus of students, but Jeremie doesn't let her. "Come on, it's really important."

"What is this place?" she wonders aloud as she and the gang get out of the elevator at the factory.

"It's a long story. And a strange one. Maybe you should sit down-" Jeremie indicates his chair in front of the computer "-but don't touch anything. I guess I'll have to start at the beginning. Okay, so shortly after I first started at Kadic, I was just kind of…wandering around, then I found this abandoned factory. I saw a gigantic supercomputer, but it was off. I flipped the switch and turned it back on, but it didn't turn out like I expected it to…"


	6. The Imprint

"But why haven't you gone to the police? If there really is a malicious virus out to destroy humanity, the authorities need to know!" a slightly panicked Sarah exclaims.

Jeremie sighs. "That's because, number one, they wouldn't believe us, number two, they can't do anything to help, and number three, X.A.N.A seems to like possessing authority figures."Yeah, if you went to the police and said "There is a malicious virus out to destroy humanity," where do you think that would land you? In the nut house, of course!" Odd cracks.

Sarah shudders involuntarily. "I see. And you need to put me in one of your scanners to see what this "xana" thing's done to me, but if you do that, then I'll have to join the fight?" _I have enough trouble just getting through each day, let alone having to battle an evil entity in a virtual world full of monsters all the time! I just want to survive! I don't want to do any of this 'saving-the-world' stuff! _she thinks.

"Well, yes and no," Jeremie says slowly. You'll need to be aware of what we're doing so the déjà vu from the returns to the past doesn't drive you crazy, and you should help us. X.A.N.A.'s getting more powerful every day, and we just don't have enough people to fight it! But no, you're not going anywhere near Lyoko until I figure out what's it's done to your brain. Let's get the scan done now. I have to get back to the dorm and do my homework-"

"Yeah, you do, but need I remind you you're the only one who actually bothers to do it? Odd _never _does! He just copies off me most of the time!" Ulrich jokingly complains.

"-and I'm sure Yumi's parents want you two home," Jeremie continues, ignoring the interruption. "She'll take you down to the scanners, I've got to run the program."

"Is it dangerous? The scan, I mean," Sarah asks, worried.

"Not at all," he assures her.

The whole gang crowds anxiously around the supercomputer as the green beam of the scanner slowly moves up the new girl's body. "Hmm…it looks good so far," Aelita observes as the scan's nearly finished. No sooner are the words out of her mouth, though, than the computer starts to beep its warning. A small red dot indicates the infection.

Jeremie pores over the long string of unintelligible information that's popped up on the screen. "This is really strange. It may take a while for me to figure out exactly what X.A.N.A's done, but it doesn't look too severe. Her brain doesn't look like the brain of someone who's possessed, but X.A.N.A's undeniably in there…hang on." A bunch of numbers and symbols have just filled the screen.

"So what is it?" Aelita wonders, looking over his shoulder. "It looks like programming language for software, actually."

"That's what it is, but I don't know what kind of program it is or what it could do or is doing," Jeremie distractedly mumbles. "I'm going to run some statistical tests of this data against other data I've found on Lyoko to see if I get any matches or even any similarities."

The supercomputer then flashes green: SCAN COMPLETE. A minute later, a dazed Sarah comes back up. "So what's wrong with me?" She's trying to sound composed, but there's a tremor in her voice, and fear, no, pure, abject, terror, in her eyes.

"I don't know exactly what, I have to run tests, but don't look so afraid! The results are strange, not like anything I've seen before, but you don't look possessed, and the scan shows that X.A.N.A.'s only in one small part of your brain. You should be okay for now," Jeremie explains. 

The last sentence is somewhat of an overstatement, but he doesn't want her to be so anxious and worried about his findings that her episode during the last attack might repeat itself. And next time, a return to the past might not fix everything.

Sarah tries to do her homework later that night; now that she's not in a class where everyone seems to know more than she does, she's pleasantly surprised to see she's not as behind as she thought she was. That is, until she gets to the math assignment. After nearly an hour, enough crumpled-up papers to fill the wastebasket to overflowing, two Internet searches, and much agonizing over the textbook, her frustration shows "Dammit!" she growls, louder than she intended to. "Why am I so _stupid?!_"As the volume of the soundtrack in her head increases even more, she reaches into her pocket…but the knife's not there. _Where did it __**go**__? I had it in my pocket all day at school…where is it?? I need…_

With that option off the table, she quickly rolls up her sleeve and digs her long nails into her arm, ready to scratch, to use whatever she has to to get relief. Just then, there's a knock at the door. "Is something wrong?" It's Yumi. Sarah quickly rolls her sleeve back down and pretends like nothing is just before Yumi, uninvited, opens the door. She takes in the scene; the papers, the scribbled-in textbook thrown aside onto the floor, and Sarah looking as if she might cry.

"Homework got you down?" Yumi asks. Sarah nods mutely. "Well, who you'd really want as a tutor is Jeremie, but seeing as he's busy and the assignment's due tomorrow, we'll see what we can do, okay? I remember this stuff from last year…"

The next morning in the cafeteria, Jeremie's conspicuously absent, but he drags himself in a good ten minutes late to first period math and slumps down next to Sarah. "So, figured it out yet?" she whispers

"No, not yet. I was up all night last night running the tests, then I left the computer to do them. We can check on it during lunch. X.A.N.A.'s gotten into your midbrain, though, I know that much. That's the part of your brain that regulates things like arousal of the other brain systems. So some effects might possibly be anxiety attacks and the like."

Jeremie passes along this information to Odd and Ulrich while Mrs. Meyer's droning. The clock has never seemed to move more slowly for Sarah as she counts down the seconds until noon, and, possibly, answers.

"Yumi, meet us at the factory right away. Jeremie's set up the tests of Sarah's scan to run automatically, and there may be some answers by now," Yumi half runs off towards the factory before she even hears all of Aelita's message on her phone; a few minutes later, they're all crowded around the supercomputer once again.

Jeremie scrolls at hyperspeed through the data comparison tests. "Odd…odd…"

"Um, I'm right here, Einstein," Odd says, confused.

"No, I don't mean you. I mean, these results are odd! The data from the scan matches all of the data gathered from the activated towers, X.A.N.A.'s monsters, and the brains of people who were possessed, on a basic level. But the data from the scan is much more complex. Actually, it's as complex as, say, Aelita's "DNA," so to speak, the data that made up her before she was materialized," he explains.

Aelita then asks the question on everyone's minds. "Is it X.A.N.A.'s "DNA," then?"

"Very probably," Jeremie responds. "We may have deactivated that tower before X.A.N.A. could truly possess you, Sarah. Then, as X.A.N.A was forced out of your brain, it left 

an imprint of itself. Since we didn't do a return to the past in time, the imprint will be there until I can find out how to remove it. It doesn't have enough control of your brain to possess you and make you dangerous to others, but there's no telling what this imprint, so to speak, might do to _you_."


	7. Breaking Point

9/6/2008

Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse…they did. Now the gang's saying an alien virus has infected my brain, and there's no telling what it could do to me…I thought I could just about deal with things, as bad as they are, but then I get something else thrown at me…And my parents called today and yelled at me about how I need to do really well here or else…and that I'd better stop or else…

_"Stop this nonsense right now!" my mom yells. "You're bringing shame and disgrace on _us! What did we ever do to you? We adopted you, gave you a good life and a good education, so_ why are you acting so crazy? That's why we sent you away to Kadic, you know. You're reflecting badly on us. And we can't have that now that we're moving up. How can you be so stupid?! You'll destroy yourself, don't say I didn't warn you…And if you really want to do that, go ahead! We won't stop you!"_

"Go ahead!" keeps ringing in my ears. Am I really worth so little that they don't care if I live or die? I want to do it, but if I do, I'll just be proving them right…

The sad-eyed raven-haired girl stares out of her bedroom window at the rain. "I'm home!" she hears Yumi call. She'd stayed after, supposedly to get help with homework, but really, to be with Ulrich. "Why are you crying?" she pries, hearing Sarah's sniffling even if she doesn't turn from her post.

_Wait…I am?_ Sarah's been so caught up with her thoughts and her head's negative soundtrack that she hasn't even noticed the tears coming down her own face.

"Is something wrong?" Yumi continues to prod.

_Nothing is! Everything is! I can't keep up at Kadic, there's a virus in my brain that will, in all likelihood, kill me, I have no friends, and to top it off, my mom just told me she doesn't care if I live or die! And I still can't find my knife! _Sarah mentally answers her, but stays silent.

"Are you worried about the imprint? School? Are you homesick?"

_Why would I be homesick for parents that don't care if I live or die?_ Yumi's shocked face confirms she's actually said that last thought. Feeling as if she has nothing more to lose, Sarah wipes her eyes and says, "And you know why they sent me to Kadic? To keep their image intact! Can't have a crazy daughter ruining your climb up the class ladder, can you? My mom actually said when she just called 'If you want to do it, go ahead. We won't stop you.'"

Yumi gasps and reaches for Sarah, but she pushes her away, throwing herself down on the bed to cry into her pillow. Incoherent phrases, something about the imprint killing her, having no one, and not being able to find her knife, come out through her sobs. Yumi guiltily reaches into her pocket, making sure the Swiss army knife is still there. _You've got me. I cared enough to take it away while you were sleeping. I found you on the floor of the factory._ Since Sarah's arrival, Yumi's noticed she gets strange feelings around her; a strong protectiveness, worry, and deep sadness at what she's doing to herself. _I'm like her older sister_, Yumi tells herself. _These feelings are just that, nothing more._ She patiently waits for Sarah to cry herself out, unsure of what to do.

Finally, Sarah sits up, eyes red and tear tracks marring her smooth, tawny skin. "I…I didn't know you were still here," she sniffles, not looking at Yumi.

"Do you really think I could walk away from such a sobfest?" Yumi tries to joke. "I was almost afraid you'd choke if I left you alone!"

Sarah manages a half-smile.

"And did I hear you say you had nobody? 'Cause that's not true. You're a Lyoko warrior now, and that means you can count on us. Aelita, you know, we're all she has, and she does all right…" Yumi pauses, her voice now becoming almost pleading. "So please, please, please stop. I know what you're doing, and I can't stand to see you do this because you're…" _So beautiful and I love you. _She realizes too late that she's actually said that.

Now it's Sarah's turn to be shocked. The last time she can remember anyone telling her "I love you" was when she was about six. "You…really do? No one's told me that in…forever!" And now she lets Yumi hug her, the last of her tears falling on the Japanese girl's sweater.

After a few minutes, Yumi pulls away slightly. "Yes, I do. Really." She wipes one more tear away, then leans back in…and kisses Sarah softly on the lips, as though trying to stamp out the hurt she's been through.

A/N: Didn't see that coming, did you? Figured I'd better get to the femslash before you all died of boredom! Sorry about the lack of new chapters, I've been busy with work and going to the lake (with no Internet access) on the weekend. I talked to Sarah B. today, the girl on which this OC is based. Long story short, in March I saw her scars and told our coach on the speech team, who said there wasn't anything I could do. But I tried to be there and to be her friend. She seems to be doing better and is wearing short sleeves again, and her wrists are "clean." I hope she's actually stopped.


	8. Panic and Premonitions

"But…you…I…Ulrich…" Sarah can't even seem to form a sentence.

"I'm not so sure about him anymore," Yumi sighs. "We've been friends for a long time, and then he started to have feelings for me. I could tell. When we first kissed, I didn't, you know, feel any fireworks or anything, but I thought that was normal and I would warm up to him. I care a lot about him, and he's like my brother, but…I just don't feel the same way. And then…well…uh…you came along…and…" She trails off.

"And what? Please don't leave me hanging!" There's an awkward silence. Then, suddenly, the anxiety washes over Sarah again, along with a strange vision; a tower, glowing red, on an expanse of golden sand. She only notices she's begun to hyperventilate and shake all over when she sees the fear in Yumi's hazel eyes.

"Is it X.A.N.A.? Jeremie said this kind of thing might happen. I'll call him. Just try to calm down. He'll figure it out." But Yumi doesn't know if she's lying or not. After a good several minutes, Sarah's strange state still hasn't gone away; Jeremie said there was nothing to do but wait it out, and that this would probably keep happening until he found a way to remove the imprint without killing or brain-damaging Sarah.

Just then, Jeremie calls Yumi back. "I know this is bad timing, but X.A.N.A.'s launched an attack in the desert sector. It looks serious. We'll all need to be there. Bring Sarah too. Maybe I'll be able to figure something out."

Yumi expects to have to almost carry Sarah there, but as soon as she mentions the factory, Sarah's off so fast it's all Yumi can do to keep up.

Jeremie's in his element there. "Aelita. Ulrich. Yumi. Get in the scanners first. Odd, you go right after them. And Sarah, you're backup. Not sure we should send you to Lyoko if X.A.N.A.'s doing something to you right now, even if you're not possessed."

While Jeremie watches the battle playing out on the supercomputer's screen, it's all Sarah can do not to have a heart attack or pass out as the imprint continues to torment her mind. Odd's the first one back. "Jeremie. I just couldn't finish it. We had a huge welcoming committee and…"

"I know. Six wasps, three Mekatanks, and William. ULRICH, MOVE!" he shouts into the headset, but it's too late. In the second he's had his eyes away from the screen, William's come up behind Ulrich and cut him through with his sword. "Okay, so now there are only two tanks and William, but Yumi and Aelita are the only ones left. And if Yumi takes one more hit, she's out too."

Yumi lets out a yell of victory as one of the tanks explodes, but William's still riding the other one. And Yumi knows she'll never be able to beat him, not alone, with almost no lifepoints left. Not like this. "Jeremie, you've got to send Sarah!" she yells.

"But look at her! X.A.N.A.'s affecting everything in her! She's in no shape to fight! And I don't even really know her abilities, and she's never even been to Lyoko before!" Jeremie argues.

Distracted by Jeremie, Yumi doesn't duck away from William's fatal sword swipe fast enough. Luckily, it goes through his tank as well, but now he's hacking away at Aelita's rock shield… "You've got no choice! I can't hold out forever!" she cries.

"Odd. Take her down," Jeremie barks. He says a there-are-no-athiests-in-foxholes kind of prayer as he presses the keys.

"Virtualization." He's managed to land her right between Aelita and William. "Sarah, can you hear me? Are you okay now?" he asks as she ducks William's blade.

"Yes. I think so. Okay, so I need to take out evil-guy-with-big-sword here?" A trace of her earlier sense of humor seems to have returned with the virtualization.

"Just get him away from Aelita! No one's been able to kill him before, don't even try!"

Odd's board appears next to her, and Sarah hops on, seeming to have a natural command of it. As she speeds off, Jeremie gets a moment to admire his work. Sarah's wearing a black silk kimono patterned with red teardrops; it's pretty, but that's not what he's proud of. The three large throwing knives, really more like small but deadly swords, around her belt are his crowning glory. Sarah leads William on a chase across the sector, but finally, he becomes frustrated and devirtualizes Odd's board. Jeremie silently marvels; he didn't think he'd made any of the vehicles, much less Odd's, fast enough to outstrip William.

"Aelita, MOVE!" Jeremie shouts. "NOW!" She sprints for the tower. On the other end of the sector, Sarah and William are facing off. He lunges, and she jumps, flying into an amazing acrobatic move to avoid it while at the same time throwing a knife at William. Aelita's nearly touching the tower when the knife hits him in the sword arm. "That's 30 lifepoints off William. Keep it up, Aelita's almost there." Jeremie encourages her. Sarah repeats the move; he swipes, she jumps aside, she nicks him again.

On the other side of the sector, Aelita's already going up to the tower's second level.

A minute later, everyone's back at the factory. "That was better than any of us when we were starting to fight! I mean, we've hardly even ever managed to damage William before, and you took away half his lifepoints in two hits!" Jeremie enthuses.

"Yeah, the first time Odd and I went to Lyoko…well, I don't even want to mention it!" Ulrich says with a smile.

"Oh, look who's talking, Mr. Oops-I-Just-Stabbed-Myself!" Odd laughs.

"Do you feel all right now, Sarah?" Yumi questions. "You look better."

"Yeah, I'm fine…wow, was I really that good?" Sarah looks unsure of Jeremie's praise, like she's trying to decide if he's mocking her or not.

"Yes, but you're making all of us look bad now!" Odd teases.

"This is very interesting. Now, I have a theory…" Jeremie begins.

"Oh no, not another science lecture," Ulrich mumbles under his breath.

"I heard that. Anyway, I think that X.A.N.A. may be going after you, Sarah, because it knew how powerful you could be. By killing you, it would've stopped you from fighting. It didn't kill you, obviously, but the imprint in your midbrain of X.A.N.A.'s "DNA," so to speak, is doing everything it can to keep you from fighting in the first place. That's why you had the anxiety attack before it happened, I think. It's hard for you to deal with it, but it was an early warning sign of the attack. I see that now. And now that I do, we can use it to our advantage. Did you have a premonition or anything?" Jeremie asks.

"Actually, yeah. I saw the tower glowing in the desert sector, but I was too freaked out to figure out what it meant," she responds.

"This is great! We can know when X.A.N.A.'s going to attack before he does it!" Jeremie's almost gloating.

"But…" Sarah begins. _But these "early warning signs" are torture! Just figure out how to remove the imprint already!_ But she doesn't speak up; she never does, because that only ever brings more strife.


	9. Perspectives

A/N: This chapter is just various perspectives on what's happened so far by some of the gang.

9/9/2008

Yumi's been acting so strange lately. I mean, obviously she can act weird now, what with the whole situation with Sarah and X.A.N.A. But it's more than just worry. I think, and I know this is awful for me to even suspect, that I should trust her, and that I have bigger things to worry about now than this, but I think Yumi may be seeing somebody else. When she came to the factory last time X.A.N.A. attacked, her hair and clothes were all messy, and she had this…secret smile…on. She talks to me like she normally does, we still spend a ton of time together, and she doesn't resist my advances, but I get the feeling she's not enjoying being with me like she did when we first fell in love. Oh well. Hopefully I'm imagining things. Maybe the thrill is just gone for her now.

-Ulrich

9/13/2008

I wish I knew more about why X.A.N.A.'s suddenly changed tactics like this. Its normal way is to possess people, and that's obviously useful to it, because then it can possess even more people, and so on, but now it's out to get a certain person? Aside from liking authority figures, X.A.N.A. usually hunts indiscriminately. The problem is that I don't know how to remove X.A.N.A's imprint from Sarah's brain, and that's what's causing the anxiety attacks she's been having. I need to remove it- I'm not sure how much longer she can handle the attacks and her "visions" on top of the issues she clearly already has and fighting for Lyoko. No. That's not the problem. The real problem is that I'm debating with myself whether or not to remove it, or to even try to find a solution. Because if X.A.N.A's doing what I think it's doing, her "condition" is actually a valuable tool, maybe even better than the superscan, because she can see an attack before it happens. I only have to look at her, though, to see that what X.A.N.A.'s doing 

is a constant torment. Even when she's not affected, she lives in fear of another premonition. She looks like she's hardly sleeping, she barely eats, and she can't concentrate enough to do her work. The only reason she didn't fail the math test today was because I spent hours tutoring her, and finally wrote her a cheat sheet, which she used. Everyone keeps asking me if I've found out how to remove it yet, but I don't tell them that I'm not even looking! I know I'm cruel for letting her suffer, but we need every advantage we can get in the fight! Besides, we'll hopefully be able to stop X.A.N.A. for good soon.

What have I become? Why have I let this go on? Am I becoming more like X.A.N.A.?

-Jeremie

9/13/2008

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm in love. And not with Ulrich! When Sarah came to Kadic and to stay with me, I felt like I'd never felt before. I tried to push the feelings away, telling myself they meant nothing, or that I just liked her as a friend and wanted to protect her because I felt like her big sister and I'm worried about her, but I was just lying to myself. No, I don't like her…I LOVE her. And of course I want to look out for her and I worry, but that's because I don't want to lose someone I love so much! I can't believe I actually said that to her! And I kissed her! She's so confused by me, and I know I shouldn't add any more drama to her life right now, but I just…couldn't help myself. She's amazing. It's like the song: "This is the story of a girl/who cried a river and drowned the world/she looked so sad in photographs/but I absolutely love her/when she smiles." She smiles so rarely, but when she does, it's like dawn breaking on a new day…If I'm just always there for her, maybe she'll see I really do love her. And maybe then she'll love me back. Principal Delmas said Sarah was just here until a dorm could be arranged, but I actually hope that doesn't happen anytime soon!

-Yumi

9/14/2008

When Jeremie said the "early warning signs" of a X.A.N.A. attack were hard for me to deal with, he made the understatement of the century. Things are so hard right now, with the "signs," school, Lyoko, my parents calling, angry, nearly every day, and trying to stop cutting and to decide how I really feel about Yumi, that I honestly don't know how I make it through each day. Yumi begged me to stop. "Promise you'll stop?" she asked.

"No, I can't promise. It's so hard! You just wouldn't understand! It's like…I'm addicted! I can't!"

"Promise to _try_?" Her eyes were sparkling with unshed tears.

"Okay. I promise I'll try," I said. And that's how I started doing the hardest thing I've ever done before in my life. I'd rather face a thousand Williams than myself, as strange as that sounds. That's really what it is, though. My worst enemy's not some digital monster, but myself. And to complicate things further, I think Yumi's in love with me, and Ulrich's getting suspicious that something's up with her. I don't want to take her away from him, but she did kiss me first, after all! I've never even dated a _guy_ before, so I have no idea how to respond to her. Damn, I haven't even been _**loved**_ in so long that I've almost forgotten what that's like. Even if she is a girl and the situation is so complicated and I'm confused, I know at least this much; it feels great to be loved again.

-Sarah


	10. The Confrontation

(A/N: So sorry I haven't written anything in so long! Things have been really busy, and I've started college now! )

"Yumi. Come on. Up." Sarah shakes Yumi's shoulder. "Class starts in 10 minutes!"

"What?!?" The dark-haired girl bolts out of their shared bed, hair adorably mussed. "Okay, just give me a minute! I can't believe I overslept!"

Nine minutes and 59 seconds later, the gang looks up in surprise at Sarah and Yumi as they skid into the classroom; Yumi slips on the tile floor and grabbing onto Jeremie's desk to keep from falling. "Isn't that Odd's job? To oversleep and come in at the last possible second?" Ulrich cracks.

"Yeah, yeah. The Ishiyamas went away for the weekend, and Hiroki's staying at a friend's house, so it's just Yumi and I for today, and I guess we did oversleep," Sarah sheepishly responds. "Thank God it's Saturday. Just the half day now, then. And we're planning a little party- well, Yumi is- tonight."

The clock seems to have stopped, but finally, finally, the last bell rings. "Why not just go over now?" Odd suggests the minute everyone's gathered in Kadic's courtyard.

"No, not yet, okay? We need a little time to get ready," Yumi insists. "See you all in an hour?"

A gleam sparkles in Sarah's eye. _An hour…perfect._

Back at the Ishiyama's, Yumi starts to get things ready. "Okay, I have the soda and chips and everything…what movies do you think we should watch? And we should probably order pizza…you know Odd and his appetite…" She's stopped mid-sentence by Sarah kissing her, the Korean girl's tongue dancing across her lips.

"Come here, you," she growls when they come up for air.

"But Ulrich…" Yumi feebly protests.

"Ulrich's not here, is he?" A naughty grin dances across Sarah's lips, and she leads Yumi over to the couch.

There is frenzy afterwards. Tops hastily put back on, hair finger-combed, each other's makeup washed off…and then there they sit, breathless, smelling of perfume and sweat, slightly embarrassed, avoiding each other's eyes, faces flushed…but when the rest of the gang arrives, they don't notice. Or maybe just pretend not to.

As the pizza and soda flows, Jeremie's mind begins to work on an idea. _Maybe…it could work…_He thinks so hard he starts to get a headache. _Yes. That would work. Solve Sarah's X.A.N.A. problems once and for all…but do I __**want**__ to solve it? After all, the premonitions are really helpful. _

_But they're really hurting her!_ another voice argues. _You can see that!_

Finally, Jeremie reaches a compromise. "Sarah, we all want to talk to you, okay? Just listen. We want to help." He catches Yumi's eye. _You know what I mean._ "We all know…" he sucks in a deep breath, "what you're hiding."

"Just leave me alone!" she yells. "I'm not hurting you! And why do you care anyway?!?" She gets up to storm out, but Ulrich blocks one door, and Odd the other.

"You're not leaving. You're going to sit here. And listen." Jeremie says firmly.

Defeated, Sarah sits back down on the couch between Aelita and Yumi. "How do you all know?" she stammers.

"Right before we made you a Lyoko warrior, something happened. On your first day of school, after class…" Jeremie begins…

"you ran off to the factory…we didn't know where you went…" Odd continues.

"Then X.A.N.A. attacked, and we went to the factory, but were too busy fighting to notice that you were out cold in a corner there…" Ulrich says guiltily…

"because you'd slashed your wrist! And you don't remember, because we did a return to the past." Yumi finishes quickly, somehow thinking that these facts might be less unpleasant if spit out fast.

"And we looked at your journal while you were um, out…saw what you wrote about the black smoke that had wrapped itself around your head…Jeremie and I figured out it was X.A.N.A., of course…" Aelita sighs. "And we think X.A.N.A. may also be playing a role in why you're, um, doing this- it's making you anxious and stuff. Trying to keep you from fighting it."

"But I know there's other stuff going on too. The point is, we want to help you. If you'll let us. And this hurts us, too- we worry every day." Yumi says softly.

There's silence then, broken only by Sarah's quiet crying; she's shaking so much she seems to be having some sort of silent fit. "It's okay. Okay. You're going to be fine." Yumi reassures her; Aelita puts an arm around Sarah's trembling shoulders.

(I don't know what day it is; it's so late I'm not sure if it's night or morning.)

They know. They all know. And they told me that. I've been up forever; I can't sleep. I guess I'm afraid. They promised not to tell anyone else, but I don't know…it was so hard for me to face it. They don't understand what it's like! To fake a smile every day when you have this dark secret literally up your sleeve! To know you should stop- to try to, to want to so much, but in the end, always falling prey to your urges again. And hating yourself for being like this. And the shame…

I just wish I could be stronger. But I did realize something from tonight; maybe I mean something. To somebody. Maybe I _am_ somebody.

-Sarah


	11. Dr Melenge?

(A/N: Since first semester finals here are looming ever closer, this chapter will be short. Sorry! I will probably write more over J term, when I'm home from Dec. 12th-Jan. 23rd.)

I can't sleep. I don't know what time it is, or even what day. I'm at the factory, just agonizing…I _know _the cure. I know! It's not easy, but it's possible; I've done something similar before with Aelita when I had to recreate her from one strand of her hair. What I need to do is get a piece of Sarah's DNA that's not "infected" with X.A.N.A.'s imprint, then send her to Lyoko, make her fall into the digital sea…then here's the hard part. I'll have to "reboot" her. Recreate her from maybe only one strand of hair. It's risky and has a lot of potential complications, but I could do it. Now. And solve everything. But I'm not sure if I _want_ to, or even if I _should_. After all, these premonitions are so valuable…But they're killing her. I know. With how often X.A.N.A. attacks, she usually ends up having the premonitions up to several times a day! Which wouldn't be too bad, except for the massive anxiety and desire to harm herself that they also cause! She's constantly in a state of panic now, both from X.A.N.A. and the fear of having another "episode." So tonight I tried to compromise with myself. I didn't announce the cure, but I did tell her that we all know what she's doing and want to help. But I think it's only a matter of time before someone at school finds out and tries to get her locked up or something. I know I have to go forward with this cure, no matter how risky and insane it is…but I can't! I can't lose the best tool we've got in our arsenal now, and the best fighter! I try to help. I send her to Lyoko right away whenever X.A.N.A.'s about to attack, since that makes the symptoms disappear, try to calm her down…but I just feel so evil for letting this go on. I've read about the doctors under the Nazis who did horrible pseudo-scientific experiments on humans, totally disregarding life…and if I take a hard look at myself, it seems that's what _I _am! And I feel awful about it…like I've stooped to X.A.N.A's level. Like I'm Dr. Melenge.

-Jeremie

Sarah's being chased across a dark, unknown landscape, but she can hardly run…it feels like trying to run in quicksand. She doesn't know who or what's after her; all she knows is the terror she feels. She runs up to her room and barricades the door, panting. _Safe. Here. Alone. It'll never get me now._ She leans up against it, throwing all of her weight into keeping the door shut, as she hears angry footsteps on the stairs. She tries so hard to keep it closed…but with a resounding crash, her pursuer breaks down the door and all of her defenses. "You die now, bitch!" she hears it growl as it grabs her from behind and puts a knife to her neck. She looks up into its face…and sees herself. The X.A.N.A. sign flashing in her doppelganger's eyes.

She yells for help, but no one comes…

And then she sees it. Another vision. An activated tower in the forest sector. Surrounded by tanks, with the Schipazoa standing closest…

She forces herself to look into her other self's eyes. And begs for mercy. "None! You are MINE, Sarah!" it hisses…

She's just so afraid… "Sarah! SARAH!" Someone's yelling her name, jolting her back to reality.

She opens her eyes to the darkened room, almost screaming before she realizes it's only Yumi. "You were having a nightmare. One hell of one! Thrashing around and begging "Don't kill me, don't kill me!" I had to hold you down!" Yumi exclaims "What's going on?"

"X.A.N.A." That's all she has to say. And that's everything. Without another word, they rush off towards the factory.


	12. Gambling with Life

(A/N: Just have to put this commercial plug in before the story, sorry! Today's the day to "write love" (literally) on your arms. I did. :) The idea comes from an organization called To Write Love On Her Arms, an organization dedicated to helping the millions of people who struggle, whether with self-injury, like Sarah and so many others do, suicide, or substance abuse. I know I'm a biased source, but it's a really worthy cause and they sell some cool clothes and accessories through their site!)

Yumi punches out Jeremie's number as she runs headlong towards the factory. He picks up on the first ring. "I know. I'm already there. Looks like we'll need everyone. Hurry up."

"Sarah and I are already on our way, Einstein…oww!!!" Yumi's slipped on the slick concrete of the bridge; she thinks she hears something snap, and crumples to the ground, unable to move.

"Yumi, are you okay?!?" Jeremie exclaims.

"No, I slipped and I think my ankle's broken!" She looks up at Sarah, who seems to be fighting an internal battle; leave her friend vulnerable in order to go to Lyoko, which every neuron in her terrified brain is screaming at her to do, or stay and bear what would be the worst "episode" yet. There are so many emotions playing across her face; overwhelming fear, worry, sadness, guilt, and underneath it all, a little tenderness for the girl she so loves. "You go ahead. Jeremie's already there. He needs you." With one last backward glance at her injured friend, Sarah flees for the factory. For Lyoko. For safety, ironically, in a fight.

"Ulrich, Aelita and Odd are coming; hopefully; that'll be enough," Jeremie barks. "And are you sure you can't still make it to the factory? You're almost there…" What he hears next, a high-pitched, involuntary cry like a dying animal, sets his teeth on edge. "What was that?"

"That was me trying to get up. I won't be able to make it in, not without someone to carry me, and even then it would be impossible to get down the ropes. I guess I'm stuck. Just do the best you can." Yumi then hangs up so he doesn't hear her cry.

Two seconds later, the rest of the gang nearly steps on Yumi in the dark, stopping just in time. "Yumi! What happened?!? Are you hurt?" Ulrich asks worriedly.

"Yes. But it's nothing, really. Guys…just go, okay? You'll have to fight this one without me."

"Are you sure?" Aelita asks.

"Yes, I'm sure- X.A.N.A.'s really put together an army this time. Go!" Yumi urges them. Aelita and Odd run off, but Ulrich refuses to leave.

"What if X.A.N.A. sends its monsters to Earth? Then they'll go after you! I have to stay with you, or take you to the factory- you can't just stay here, it's too exposed!" he protests.

"Ulrich, you have no choice- we need everyone on Lyoko. And anyway, I can't get down the ropes with a broken ankle. Go on- don't try any of this hero stuff! If you really want to save me, go to Lyoko right now and help Aelita deactivate the tower!" Yumi argues back.

"At least let me put you somewhere safer," Ulrich insists, picking her up like a bride crossing the threshold of her new home; she yelps in pain. He carefully sets her down near the ropes, where the cameras can see, and tries to kiss her.

"Not now, Ulrich. There's no time." Yumi's almost pushing him away.

_Strange._ he thinks. _What's been __**up**__ with her lately?_

Meanwhile, Sarah, Odd, and Aelita are virtualized behind some large trees; X.A.N.A's creatures haven't noticed them yet. Odd's board materializes silently beside him, and a new vehicle appears next to Sarah. It looks like Odd's, only sleeker, and black and red instead of purple, with a pointed snout, like a blade. "That's yours, Sarah. I know now isn't a good time to test out a new vehicle, but you're seriously outnumbered here and need to be fast. Think you can do it?"

She smiles. "Sure! Wait…what the hell?!?"

"What's wrong?" Odd asks.

"I'm getting another vision! Did you weaponize my vehicle? Because this…whatever it is that I'm seeing…is telling me I should run it through the Schipazoa's _brain_, like a knife!" Sarah says, surprised and horrified.

"What? Are you kidding me?!? That's incredibly dangerous! You could get sucked into the brain, or end up just making it mad!" Jeremie practically yells. "No way! It's just one of X.A.N.A.'s plots! Okay, Odd, you distract the tanks, Ulrich-" (he's coming in, but hasn't even hit the ground yet,) "you help Odd take out as many as possible, and Sarah, help Aelita get to the tower."

The plan falls apart almost immediately. The tanks start going after Odd and Ulrich, but there are so many of them that it's all they can do to dodge the attacks; Ulrich's blasted off his bike and into midair over the digital sea; Odd only just manages to grab him and pull him up onto his board. "Ulrich, Odd, be careful! One more hit, Ulrich, and you're dead, and Odd, you only have 40 life points left!" Jeremie warns.

Meanwhile, a tarantula skitters towards the petrified Yumi, who grabs a crowbar to try to fend it off and crawls backwards to get away…then hits the wall. "Jeremie, tell them to hurry!" she screams up at the camera.

The Schipazoa slowly advances towards Aelita; Sarah tries to defend her, but the knives she normally uses as weapons have somehow disappeared…Aelita just manages to put up a rock wall between them and the monster in time…

Odd and Ulrich feel the heat as the tanks' blasts just barely miss them…Odd has to jump off the board and hang on one-handed to avoid being hit, and his grip starts to slip…

The tarantula comes ever closer to Yumi; she can smell its rank breath…

"I'm sorry, Jeremie, I have to do this." Sarah jumps on her board, crouches, and aims the sharp end of it at the Schipazoa.

"Are you crazy?!?" Jeremie yells. "You'll die! Or be possessed!" But it's too late for his words; Sarah's almost flat on her board, aiming for the monster's head like a bullet…

"I can't hang on much longer, man!" Odd screams…

Aelita's rock barrier gives way…

Yumi hits the tarantula with the crowbar, but that only makes it angry…


	13. Victory?

And then everything seems to happen at once. The Schipazoa lunges forward, towards Sarah. The tanks start blasting shots everywhere, the sound like machine-gun fire, and Odd and Ulrich are devirtualized instantaneously. The tarantula corners Yumi, who's now clinging desperately to one of the ropes, unable to get back, but unable to drop down without crippling herself further…

It's over in a single second, not longer than the moment a camera captures with a click of the shutter. There's only one thought in Sarah's head as she speeds towards the greatest of all X.A.N.A.'s monsters. _It doesn't matter. I don't care. Besides, if I die now, I die a heroine. A martyr. _When the board begins to slice through the Schipazoa's brain, it feels like she's been plunged into a dark, icy lake. Sarah can't see, can't hear…all she knows is the cold and dark. Horrible images form and dissolve in her brain, but only one of them stays with her; herself, alone, dying, bleeding to death, and someone or something laughing bitterly at her fate. Then, it's like she's surfacing; she's through to the other side, and raises her head a fraction of an inch to see what's happened.

Meanwhile, the tarantula attacking Yumi emits an awful, screeching cry and collapses in a heap of crumpled legs.

The Schipazoa's crippled, in its last throes, its brain having been cleanly sliced in two, and it staggers towards Aelita. Sarah abandons her sword-board and jumps between Aelita and the monster, despite the fact that all of her other weapons are still missing. "Aelita, put up a wall, quick!" Jeremie screams. She does so just in time; with a great, shuddering crash, the monster meets the wall and sends it crashing down on them both. Sarah manages to hold the wall up just long enough to let Aelita get out of the way, and then it and the monster's body fall on top of her. Aelita looks around; all the monsters are gone now, and there's only the tower to deactivate, only feet away. But she doesn't want to leave her friend like this. "Aelita, just go!" Sarah gasps, unable to move an inch under the crushing weight. She obeys, and is back minutes later to free her, but Jeremie's voice, concerned and with a hard edge to it, stops her.

"You'll never be able to pull Sarah out. Now, both of you, listen and do exactly what I say. I can't bring her back unless you can get her out, which is impossible. You'll have to devirtualize her, Aelita. And hurry; I don't know what's going to happen with Lyoko now that the Schipazoa's dead. Grab her board and stab her. You have to."

"NO WAY!!!" Aelita yells.

"You have to!" Sarah insists.

Reluctantly, Aelita grabs Sarah's sharp-ended board and raises it over her head, her arms trembling with the weight. "I can't do this," she whimpers, more to herself than to Sarah.

"DO IT!" both Jeremie and Sarah scream.

But Aelita cannot make that one swift movement, that one stab to the raven-haired girl's heart. The sheer weight of the board, though, begins to bring it closer and closer to Sarah; her arms are free, and she grabs the edge and stabs herself, in the heart, almost wishing it was for real.

A minute later, with everyone safe at the factory (Yumi having been caught by the devirtualized Ulrich and helped to get down,) Jeremie tries to figure out the next step. "Now, we may just have defeated Lyoko for good, and as soon as I can figure out the antivirus for Aelita and fix Sarah's imprint, we might just be done fighting forever. On the other hand…" he pauses, not sure how to put the bad news, "…by killing the Schipazoa, we may just have lost the key to curing both of you, or, since it was your vision, Sarah, that told you what to do, we might just be playing right into X.A.N.A.'s hands. And he may just build another, bigger, better army, or call up his reserves. We'll just have to wait and see. And I'm sorry about your ankle, Yumi, but I think we'd better not do a return to the past this time- just tell your parents you tripped or something, because we don't want to risk making X.A.N.A. stronger, especially now. It's getting late, though- let's get back to school. There's nothing we can do right now anyway."

It's a cautiously happy, tired gang that leaves the factory that night, with Ulrich helping Yumi back up. He offers to take her home, but she insists that she and Sarah can manage on their own, and they do, slowly, painfully, Yumi leaning heavily on Sarah the whole way. "You know that was incredibly stupid, right?"she chides her crutch.

"Stupid, nothing!" Sarah teases. "I saved your life, didn't I? Now reward me!" She kisses Yumi playfully, but Yumi resists.

"Just better wait until we get home, okay? I need to get back before I lose what little ability to walk I have left!" And she does make Sarah wait; not until they get back home, with ice on her ankle and enough Tylenol to kill an elephant swimming through her system, does she let Sarah kiss her, and be kissed back.

The next days, which stretch and fold into weeks, are strangely silent; there's not a peep from X.A.N.A. Jeremie's the cautionary voice, warning the rest of the gang that X.A.N.A. might just be going underground or rebuilding its army, but the others regard Sarah with admiration mixed with (in Yumi's and Aelita's cases,) something like hero-worship. And as for Sarah, her life is better than almost ever before. The visions and anxiety attacks don't come any more, the nightmares are all but gone, and as the gang begins to look up to her and she realizes the great thing she's done, she begins to think _I am something. I am __**somebody.**__I have a gift._ Even the occasional call from her parents barely upsets her, and the one time in those weeks when she thinks of harming herself, all she sees is the image X.A.N.A. showed her of her limp body on the floor. It's not just herself she's fighting; it's X.A.N.A., and she'll do anything to win. With Yumi's help, she even begins to do better in school and stops hiding her face behind her hair, but every night, she wonders _Is it really over?_ and fears slipping back.


End file.
